Trees

I have posted here some of the issues we have with trees on a golf course: root encroachment, debris cleanup after storms etc. the following pictures show another issue with trees: pollen. It has an impact on the players, the workers, the equipment. One picture shows it on the roller of a mower, another clogging up the air intake. No wonder we cannot breath in the spring! The tassels and other byproducts of producing pollen also make a mess as the picture of the 5th green shows. Not to mention the bunkers getting filled with the debris of trees.
The other picture shows the canopy of a tree that is old, tired and on the way out. Notice the lack of leaves and the amount of empty branches compared to the trees around it. This tree will need to come down before it falls on the green, tee or worse someone parked underneath it. Our course is surrounded by aging trees and it can be a political firestorm and expensive to take down trees while they are alive. Look around for these oaks with fewer leaves than they should have, they seem to be everywhere.

roller gummed up with pollen

weak tree on the left, healthy on right and back ground

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mower intake clogged with pollen
 

oak tassels on green
 When dealing with weak trees one oddity that I noticed over the last couple of years is the way the leaves fall in a storm: in large chunks not individual leaves. this is good for us and bad: makes them easier to pick up as a bunch but, hard to mulch up with the mowers due to the sticks involved.

leaves falling in clusters
It is hard to put a number on how much extra work it is to have so many trees on a course but suffice to say it is tremendous. This weekend we had a couple of days of rain and wind and the place became a mess. This debris must be removed before normal work can be done. Even today we have to send someone out on a blower before the mowers can do their job. The next picture shows the putting green, which was cleaned off and mowed first, at the tail end of greens mowing. As long as the wind blows the work of cleaning up tree debris is never ending.

not even 2 hrs after cleaning off and mowing
 Lastly the worst part of trees is when they become something we refer to in the industry as "sacred cows" which means they really should come down but people attach sentimental value to them and they are left out there doing more harm than good. My favorite claimed another victim last night: ME
how many of you have been in a bunker BEHIND a tree. double penalty and a bad tree period

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